Global warming in the future

Environmental protection, climate change response, and sustainable development have become core concerns of US-Vietnam co-operation policy in recent years. In the wake of heavy losses as a result of extreme weather phenomena, the two nations are boosting co-operation in response to this pressing global challenge.Joakim Parker, mission director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Vietnam underlined the importance of climate change response as enshrined in the US-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership, which was forged in 2013 as an overarching framework for advancing the bilateral relationship.During a meeting with Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Parker was told that climate change response was one of the sectors with the greatest potential for mutual co-operation. This has been demonstrated at the highest political level.Co-operation on natural disasters is also featured in the US-Vietnam Joint Vision Statement that resulted from Vietnam’s Party … [Read more...] about Investing in the future

Earth is on track to sail past the two degree Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) threshold for dangerous global warming by 2050, seven of the world's top climate scientists warned Thursday. "Climate change is happening now, and much faster than anticipated," said Sir Robert Watson, former head of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), the body charged with distilling climate science for policy makers. Since 1990, devastating weather-related events including floods, drought, more intense storms, heat waves and wild fires, due to climate change have doubled in number, Watson and the other scientists said in a report. "Without additional efforts by all major emitters (of greenhouse gases), the 2C target could be reached even sooner," he told journalists in a phone briefing. The planet has already heated up 1.0 C (1.8 F) above the pre-industrial benchmark, and could see its first year at 1.5 C within a decade, scientists reported at a conference in Oxford last … [Read more...] about Global warming set to pass 2C threshold in 2050: report

China is increasingly active in the polar region, becoming one of the biggest mining investors in Greenland and agreeing a free trade deal with Iceland. In 2013, the Arctic Council admitted emerging powers China and India as observers. Shorter shipping routes across the Arctic Ocean would save Chinese companies time and money. For example, the journey from Shanghai to Hamburg via the Arctic route is 2,800 nautical miles shorter than going by the Suez canal. China's Maritime Safety Administration this month released a 356-page guide in Chinese offering detailed route guidance from the northern coast of North America to the northern Pacific, the China Daily said. "Once this route is commonly used, it will directly change global maritime transport and have a profound influence on international trade, the world economy, capital flow and resource exploitation," ministry spokesman Liu Pengfei was quoted as saying. Chinese ships will sail through the Northwest Passage "in the future", Liu … [Read more...] about China wants ships to use faster Arctic route opened by global warming

Global warming may wipe out three-quarters of Europe\'s alpine glaciers by 2100 and hike sea levels by four metres (13 feet) by the year 3000 through melting the West Antarctic icesheet, two studies published on Sunday said. Global warming may wipe out three-quarters of Europe\'s alpine glaciers by 2100 and hike sea levels by four metres (13 feet) by the year 3000 through melting the West Antarctic icesheet, two studies published on Sunday said. The research places the spotlight on two of the least understood aspects of climate change: how, when and where warming will affect glaciers on which many millions depend for their water, and the problems faced by generations in the far distant future. … [Read more...] about Global warming may devestate Europe’s glaciers

A global warming target could be missed three times over if countries fail to promote clean energy, the International Energy Agency warned Thursday, amid a possible slowdown in atomic power growth. An inside view of a nuclear reactor of the nuclear power station in Gundremmingen, southern Germany, during regular maintenance work in 2010. Nuclear fuel does not emit carbon dioxide, making it a serious option for "clean energy" proponents over fossil fuels, but governments around the world have turned more cautious on it in the wake of the Fukushima crisis in Japan.The IEA\'s deputy head Richard Jones however cautioned that global warming could accelerate much faster and lead to catastrophic consequences if the international community fails to adopt a more aggressive clean energy policy."We are not on the pathway to limit global temperatures," he told the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong, referring to an international … [Read more...] about Global warming threat amid nuclear doubts: IEA

Even modest rises in global temperatures will drive down rice production in Asia, the world\'s biggest grower of the cereal grain that millions of poor people depend on as a staple food, a study published Monday warned.They found that the main culprit in cutting rice yields was higher daily minimum temperatures."As the daily minimum temperature increases, or as nights get hotter, rice yields drop," said Jarrod Welch of the University of California, San Diego, and lead author of the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States."Up to a point, higher daytime temperatures can increase rice yield but future yield losses caused by higher night-time temperatures will likely outweigh any such gains because temperatures are rising faster at night," Welch said.Rising temperatures in the past 25 years have already cut rice yields at several key growing locations by 10-20 percent.The loss in production is expected to get worse as … [Read more...] about Global warming threatens Asian rice production: study

High levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may have less of an impact on the rate of global warming than feared, a study said Thursday. High levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may have less of an impact on the rate of global warming than feared, a study said. The authors of the study funded by the US National Science Foundation stressed that global warming is real, and that increases in atmospheric CO2, which has doubled from pre-industrial standards, will have multiple serious impacts. But the more severe estimates, such as those put forth by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, are unlikely, the researchers found in their study published in the journal Science. The 2007 IPCC report estimated that surface temperatures could rise by as much as 2.4 to 6.4 degrees Celsius (4.3 to 11.5 Fahrenheit). "If these paleoclimatic constraints apply to the future, as predicted by our … [Read more...] about Global warming rate less than feared: study

President Barack Obama is planning a major push using executive powers to tackle the pollution blamed for global warming in an effort to make good on promises he made at the start of his second term. "We know we have to do more — and we will do more," Obama said Wednesday in Berlin. Obama's senior energy and climate adviser, Heather Zichal, said the plan would boost energy efficiency of appliances and buildings, plus expand renewable energy. She also said the Environmental Protection Agency was preparing to use its authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate heat-trapping pollution from coal-fired power plants. "The EPA has been working very hard on rules that focus specifically on greenhouse gases from the coal sector," Zichal said. Zichal, speaking at a forum hosted by The New Republic in Washington, said that none of the proposals would require new funding or action from Congress. It has shown no appetite for legislation that would put a price on carbon dioxide after a … [Read more...] about Obama making plans to tackle global warming

MAGDALENA ISLAND, Chile – Magdalena Island, located near Chile's southern tip, is a natural paradise for tens of thousands of penguins who come every year to breed. But global warming could threaten the long-term survival of the species, say experts at the island nature reserve in the Strait of Magellan, about 50 kilometers from the city of Punta Arenas. The island is home to 22 bird species – 11 which nest year-round and 11 seasonal visitors – including the Magellanic penguin. Some 23,000 tourists a year make the pilgrimage to Los Pinguinos Natural Monument, a protected area comprising tiny Marta Island and windswept Magdalena Island. The penguins' main predators are aggressive seabirds called skuas and Dominican gulls, which feed off penguin eggs and young, says Roberto Fernandez, a ranger at the site for the past seven years.And those predator populations are growing. "Right now, what we are seeing is summer starting late, then lasting through into March. Climate … [Read more...] about Global warming a concern at Chile’s penguin paradise

Tong Viet Trung, Vice President of Viettel Group. Photo: VNSViettel has become the biggest telecom company in Vietnam 15 years after it was established and has been one of the country's few successful investors abroad. Viet Nam News speaks with Tong Viet Trung, Vice President of Viettel Group, about the company's business and social responsibility.* Viettel is one of the most successful Vietnamese companies in terms of investing abroad. Can you tell us about your investments so far? Fifteen years ago, in Vietnam, Viettel was a very small company with 100 employees, 100,000 USD capital, 2 million USD revenue and approximately 50,000 USD profit. Now the company has become the largest telecommunications and technology company in the country with 10 billion USD revenue, annual profit of over 2 billion USD, over 90,000 employees (75,000 of them in Vietnam, and 15,000 overseas). We deliver services to over 76 million customers in over 10 countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas.In … [Read more...] about Viettel eyes global status in telecoms